Novelty display device

ABSTRACT

The novelty display device has a body shaped to represent a substantial portion of a scaled reduction of a game ball belonging to a sport. An image or indicia associated with the sport is displayed on a flat surface formed on the body.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novelty display device having a shaperepresenting an aspect of a particular sport and displaying an imageassociated with said sport thereon.

BACKGROUND

Sports collectibles are common in various forms, as they are known to bedesirable to display images and equipment related to various sports andpopular players who are known to play sports. Types of collectiblesinclude various types of actual sporting equipment, novelty items andcollectibles such as pins, stamps, stickers and trading cards, all withplayer images or other logos or indicia of the sport or teams.

One known type of sports collectible item, previously made available byActiva Consumer Promotions Inc., includes a scaled reduction of a hockeypuck including images associated with the sport of hockey, such asplayer photos and the like, being displayed on the flat sides of thepuck shape. A display housing unit, also previously made available byActiva Consumer Promotions Inc., has a base shaped and patterned torepresent a hockey rink. A peripheral wall extends upwardly from thebase with images of arena seating and occupants of the arena thereon.Docking stations are provided in the base for supporting a plurality ofpucks with different images thereon. While displaying a player image onthe scaled reduction of a piece of sports equipment is aestheticallypleasing, in most sports the shape of the equipment does not readilyprovide a suitable display surface upon which an image can be printed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a noveltydisplay device comprising:

a body having a first portion and a second portion;

the first portion being shaped to represent a substantial portion of ascaled reduction of a game ball belonging to a sport;

the second portion comprising a display surface having an imagedisplayed thereon, the image being associated with said sport.

By providing a body which is shaped to represent only a portion of agame ball, a remaining portion of the body can be shaped to form adisplay surface upon which an image can be printed so that both theshape of the body and the image being displayed on the remaining portioncan be readily recognized in association with a particular sport.

Preferably, the display surface is flat and the image is centeredthereon, covered by a clear coating which is raised in relation to aperiphery of display surface and surrounded by a peripheral displayarea.

When the image comprises a photo of a player of a sport or logo of ateam or other indicia, preferably the first portion of the bodyrepresents a portion of a game ball associated with that sport.

When the first portion is shaped to represent a substantial portion of aspherical game ball, for example a basketball or a baseball, the displaysurface is round.

When the first portion is shaped to represent a substantial portion of agame ball which is elongated in one direction, the display surface mayalso be elongated and parallel to said one direction. The substantialportion being represented may be near one symmetrical half of the gameball divided either in the direction that the ball is elongate ortransversely thereto. In most embodiments however, the substantialportion being represented comprises a major portion representing morethan half of the game ball The first portion preferably includes atextured surface representative of an actual surface of the game ballbeing represented, for example the textured surface may represent seams,stitching or laces on the first portion opposite the display surface ofthe second portion.

The novelty display device may be supported on a display housingcomprising a base with a plurality of docking stations, each beingarranged to support the display device therein.

The display housing may include a wall spanning upwardly from a portionof a periphery of the base, in which the base and the wall are shapedand patterned to represent a ball stadium.

When a baseball stadium is represented, the base preferably spanssubstantially horizontally from a narrow end to a wide end of greaterlateral dimension than the narrow end to represent a baseball playingfield. The wall in this instance is preferably supported at the wide endof the base.

Each docking station may comprise an aperture having a diameter which isless than a diameter of the body to suspend the body of the displaydevice therein.

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the noveltydisplay device.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view and FIG. 3 is a side elevational viewof the display device according to FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view and FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the deviceaccording to FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevational view of the device according to FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the displaydevice.

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view, FIG. 9 is a side elevational viewand FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the device according to FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are respective bottom plan and rear elevationalviews of the device according to FIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view and FIG. 14 is a front elevational view ofa third embodiment of the display device.

FIG. 15 is a side elevational view and FIG. 16 is a top plan view of thedevice according to FIG. 13.

FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 are respective bottom plan and rear elevationalviews of the device according to FIG. 13.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view and FIG. 20 is a front elevational view ofa fourth embodiment of the display device.

FIG. 21 is a side elevational view and FIG. 22 is a top plan view of thedevice according to FIG. 19.

FIG. 23 and FIG. 24 are respective bottom plan and rear elevationalviews of the device according to FIG. 19.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view of a display housing for supporting aplurality of the novelty display devices therein.

FIG. 26 and FIG. 27 are respective front and side elevational views ofthe display housing.

FIG. 28 and FIG. 29 are respective top plan and rear elevational viewsof the display housing.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the accompanying figures there is illustrated a noveltydisplay device generally indicated by reference numeral 10. Thoughvarious embodiments of the device 10 are described and illustratedherein, the common features will first be described.

The novelty display device 10 includes a first portion 12 and a secondportion 14 which are integrally moulded as a single body. The firstportion 12 has a shape which represents a substantial portion of ascaled reduction of a game ball belonging to a sport. The first portion,thus, is visually recognisable as a sports game ball from which asection is cut away along a flat plane to define the second portion 14of the body. The second portion 14 comprises a flat display surfacealong the cutting plane through the scaled reduction of the game ballwhich defines only a portion of the game ball representation.

In addition to being suitably shaped to represent a game ball, the firstportion 12 of the body includes textured markings 16 formed thereonwhich comprise further scaled representations of a game ball for therelevant sport. The first portion of the body also includes additionallogos 18 and other similar indicia.

The flat display surface defining the second portion 14 of the bodyincludes an image 20 displayed thereon in the form of a photo of aplayer, team logo or other indicia of that team associated with thesport which the game ball represents. The image 20 is reduced in size inrelation to the display surface while being centered thereon so that aperipheral display area 22 is defined which surrounds the image about afull periphery thereof. The peripheral display area 22 includesadditional indicia 24 including names of the player, team or any otherindicia including logos and the like associated with either the sport orthe player. The image is supported directly on the display surface whilea clear coating 26 spans overtop of the image so that the clear coating26 is raised in relation to the surrounding peripheral display area 22.

Turning now more particularly to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 6,the first portion of the body is shaped to represent a baseball in whichthe first portion comprises a major portion which is more than half theoverall spherical volume of the ball. The flat display surface definedby the second portion 14 is thus round. The texture 16 in this instancecomprises representations of seams and stitching of the type commonlyfound on a baseball.

Turning now to the embodiment of FIGS. 7 through 12, the first portionof the body is shaped to represent a basketball in which the firstportion also represents a major portion comprising more than half thespherical shape of the ball so that the flat display surface defined bythe second portion 14 of the body is similarly round in shape. Thetexture 16 in this instance also represents the conventional pattern ofseams found on an official game ball in the sport of basketball.

Turning now to the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 18, a furtherembodiment is illustrated in which the first portion of the body isrepresentative of a football. The overall shape of the body is thusoblong similar to a football. The first portion of the body representsmore than half of the shape of a football which has been divided along aflat plane lying parallel to the longitudinal center of the ballextending in the elongate oblong direction of the ball. The displaysurface accordingly has a flat oblong shape recognizable as the profileof a football. The texture markings 16 comprise textured representationsof the stitching or laces on a football and are located on the rear sideof the first portion of the body diametrically opposite the displaysurface of the second portion 14. The image 20 and indicia on theperipheral display area 22 are oriented to be upright and readable whenthe elongate longitudinal direction of the body is in an uprightorientation.

Turning now to the embodiment of FIGS. 19 through 24, a fourthembodiment is illustrated in which the first portion of the body is alsorepresentative of a football. The overall shape of the body is thusoblong similar to a football. The first portion of the body representsmore than half of the shape of a football which has been divided along aflat plane lying parallel to an elongate central axis extending in theelongate oblong direction of the ball. The display surface accordinglyhas a flat oblong shape recognizable as the profile of a football. Thetexture markings 16 also comprise textured representations of thestitching or laces on a football and are located on the rear side of thefirst portion of the body diametrically opposite the display surface ofthe second portion 14. The image 20 and indicia on the peripheraldisplay area 22 are oriented to be upright and readable when theelongate direction of the central axis of the body is in a generallyhorizontal and laterally extending orientation.

Turning now to FIGS. 25 through 29, a display housing 30 is illustratedfor supporting a plurality of the novelty display devices therein. Thehousing 30 includes a base comprised of a substantially horizontal sheetsupporting a plurality of docking stations 34 therein. Each dockingstation comprises an aperture formed in the sheet 32 having a shapewhich conforms to the game ball representation of the display device tobe supported therein. In each instance, the diameter or cross sectionaldimension of the aperture is arranged to be less than that of the firstportion of the body of the display device so that the display device issuspended therein. The sheet 32 includes a peripheral flange 36 whichdepends downwardly from a full periphery of the base sheet 32 to suspendthe sheet 32 spaced above a supporting surface upon which the displayhousing 30 rests.

The base sheet 32 tapers outwardly with increasing lateral dimensionfrom a narrow end 38 to a wide end 40 in the illustrated embodiment.Accordingly the sheet 32 in plan view is visually recognizable as abaseball playing field locating a baseball diamond thereon. A peripheralwall 42 is supported only at a wide end 40 of the base to extendupwardly therefrom in three sections in which each section comprises aplanar sheet angularly offset from the next adjacent sheet in agenerally arc shaped pattern about the wide end of the base. Images ofstadium seating with occupants therein are printed on interior surfacesof the wall 42. The base sheet 32 also includes images printed thereonwhich are visually representative of a baseball playing field. The wallsalso include horizontal slots 44 formed therein spaced upwardly from thebottom end of the walls towards the top end thereof into whichadditional items can be inserted and suspended from the walls, includingrepresentations of sports pennants and the like.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein abovedescribed, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same madewithin the spirit and scope of the claims without department from suchspirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only andnot in a limiting sense.

1. A novelty display device comprising: a body having a first portion and a second portion; the first portion being shaped to represent a substantial portion of a scaled reduction of a game ball belonging to a sport; the second portion comprising a display surface having an image displayed thereon, the image being associated with said sport.
 2. The device according to claim 1 wherein the display surface is flat.
 3. The device according to claim 1 wherein the image is centered on the display surface.
 4. The device according to claim 1 wherein the image is covered by a clear coating which is raised in relation to a periphery of display surface.
 5. The device according to claim 1 wherein there is provided a peripheral display area surrounding the image.
 6. The device according to claim 1 wherein the image comprises a photo of a player or indicia associated with a team of a sport and the first portion of the body represents a portion of a game ball associated with said sport.
 7. The device according to claim 1 wherein the first portion is shaped to represent a substantial portion of a spherical game ball and the display surface is round.
 8. The device according to claim 1 wherein the first portion is shaped to represent a substantial portion of a game ball which is elongated in one direction, the display surface being generally parallel to said one direction.
 9. The device according to claim 1 wherein the first portion includes a textured surface representative of an actual surface of the game ball being represented.
 10. The device according to claim 9 wherein the textured surface comprises seams. 11 The device according to claim 9 wherein the textured surface comprises stitching.
 12. The device according to claim 9 wherein the game ball being represented comprises a football and the textured surface comprises a representation of laces located on the first portion opposite the display surface of the second portion.
 13. The device according to claim 1 wherein the game ball being represented comprise a baseball.
 14. The device according to claim 1 wherein the game being represented comprises a basketball.
 15. The device according to claim 1 wherein the game ball being represented comprises a ball which is elongate in one direction and wherein the substantial portion being represented comprises more than one half of the game ball.
 16. The device according to claim 1 wherein the game ball being represented comprises a football.
 17. The device according to claim 1 in combination with a display housing comprising a base with a plurality of docking stations, each being arranged to support the display device therein, and a wall spanning upwardly from a portion of a periphery of the base, the base and the wall being shaped and patterned to represent a ball stadium.
 18. The combination according to claim 17 wherein the ball stadium being represented comprises a baseball stadium and wherein the base spans substantially horizontally from a narrow end to a wide end of greater lateral dimension than the narrow end to represent a baseball playing field, the wall being supported at the wide end of the base.
 19. The combination according to claim 17 wherein each docking station comprises an aperture having a diameter which is less than a diameter of the body. 